Main opposition CHP slams panel report over claims of FETÖ links

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has slammed a report prepared by a parliamentary commission inquiring the July 15, 2016, coup attempt for accusing the opposition party of working with and encouraging the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have orchestrated the attempted takeover. 

“A change to the draft report is not right. The ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] has written its own report with the majority vote. We would have objected to it if we had seen it,” CHP group deputy leader Özgür Özel told daily Cumhuriyet on July 13.

“What is done here is an attitude that is politically vile. The AKP members of the commission have done what was expected from. What they did is not out of responsibility, it is fraudulent,” Özel said.

“A commission report cannot be prepared with dishonesty,” he added.

Özel’s comments came after the parliamentary commission to investigate the attempted takeover finalized its final report on July 12. Different from the draft report issued in May, a section was added to the final report under the “politics” section, which included claims that the CHP was in agreement with FETÖ.

“The main opposition’s attitudes and behaviors that would serve the political aspirations of FETÖ have an encouraging impact on FETÖ in the process leading up to the July 15 coup,” the report read.

According to Cumhuriyet’s report, the section was added during CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s “Justice March.”

CHP accused of uniting with FETÖ

In addition, the report accused the CHP of being in “close unity of purpose with FETÖ,” especially after Dec. 27-25, 2013, a series of corruption cases that targeted figures close to the government and resulted in lasting enmity between the AKP and the movement of Fethullah Gülen, as prosecutors close to the movement were said to have launched the probe.

“During the 2014 elections, the leader of the CHP conducted his political campaigns with the audio-visual material provided by FETÖ, and he attempted to defeat his political opponents with assembly records of the organization, or even to discharge them politically within a certain strategy in unity of purpose with the organization,” it said, adding that “such relations are unlawful and unacceptable within the framework of legitimate politics.”

‘Controlled coup’ deemed FETÖ rhetoric

The report also accused the main opposition of sharing FETÖ’s rhetoric by claiming that the coup attempt occurred within the knowledge of the government and was therefore a “controlled coup.”
 
“During the period, when this report was being written, the main opposition leader started to talk about a ‘controlled coup,’ matching FETÖ rhetoric,” it added.

It also indicated that during the 2013 corruption probe, the CHP leader had acted in sync with FETÖ and used “unlawful materials that were served by FETÖ.”

“It is not understood why the main opposition party adopted such a political style that could be considered as whitewashing FETÖ,” it said.